One of the most remarked upon scenes in anime in the last week was, of all things, the moment in Infinite Stratos in which the quality of English cuisine is called into question. This is, of course, an entirely unrealistic sequence, as whilst an argument could perhaps be put across for us having a number of good restaurants and chefs in this country, pretty much all of them cook food of a foreign-originating origin. Basically, even the most proud and ardent Englishman would do little to argue against the statement that British food is kind of crappy. Well, unless they’re really partial to deep-fried Mars Bars (a delight that, I must say, I have of yet to partake of). Food really isn’t the grounds upon which to make a stand about Britain’s cultural relevance.

Apparently the Japanese release of Welcome to the Space Show (or the BR, at least), out from Aniplex next month, has been confirmed (after lots of Um’ing and Ah’ing and an initial denial) as having English subtitles. This is cool beans, as I liked that movie. I mean, I was intending to import it anyway, so the inclusion of subtitles is like delicious icing on some kind of tasty, perhaps cake-like substance. Not that any of the major online retailers have listed it yet. I’m kind of surprised that they aren’t pushing the release out to the US market simultaneously with the Japanese release as they are with Kara no Kyoukai, but I’d imagine it’ll follow in a few months…

My wife was to London and Manchester and both times she remarked how amazingly bad British food was. But I am very partial to pies, the likes of which are impossible to buy here (there is a faux-Brit brand “Picadilly” ran by expats in NY, but it’s not available outside of the Gotham City).

I have relatives who live in a small village in the south of France, and they report that their fellow-villagers are actually big fans of their English cooking (they probably cook more traditionally English food because they’re not living in England any more, I suppose). They now regularly provide meals, puddings, cakes, what-have-you for village functions. I suspect a lot of the problem is that in England we usually cook badly with uninspiring ingredients, rather than that there’s something wrong with the basic concepts of English cooking.
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But the puerile part of my mind did want Ichika to make a spotted dick joke.

A mouth unable to correctly formulate a simple “L” sound is ill equipped to truly appreciate the subtle nuances of tripe with vinegar, or the delicate feast that is offal, cooked three ways.

Besides – If there was such a thing as “The World’s Worst Cuisine Award”, Britain would not win it. We would have invented it and very likely spread it to the far nations of the world… but Brazil or Australia would embarrass us every year. xD